Gaviria to miss May races with broken finger

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Fernando Gaviria will miss three races in May after breaking his finger at home in Colombia while training on Saturday, his Etixx-QuickStep team announced today.

Gaviria underwent surgery in Medellin to fix the broken finger and has returned home to recover.

“If everything goes well in the following period, the Colombian will be able return to competition in a few weeks,” Etixx-QuickStep said in today's announcement.

Gaviria was scheduled to ride Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt on May 1, Four Days of Dunkirk May 4-8, and the Tour of California May 15-22. Those plans are now on hold, and the team will reshuffle his schedule once his recovery time is certain.

The 21-year-old sprinter has won three races so far this season, including stages at the Tour de San Luis, Tour La Provence and Tirreno-Adriatico. He was in with a chance during finale of Milan-San Remo but hit the deck hard in the final 200 metres, nearly taking out Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara.

“It's a real pity that the injury occurred in this moment of the season when I was preparing to come back to racing,” Gaviria said. “The most important thing is that the surgery went well, without any complications, and that I will be ready to start training again. Of course, I'll have a different schedule now, but I will know more about this in the following weeks, when I hope to be at 100 percent for my future goals of the season.”

Gaviria won four races last year, including two stages at the Tour de San Luis when he was riding for the Colombian national team. He signed with Etixx-QuicksStep in August and promptly won stages at the Czech Cycling Tour and the Tour of Britain.